Last pump standing: Tiger Oil and Energy $TGRO

With more and more mailer pumps getting suspended by the SEC and with AwesomePennyStocks’ mastermind John Babikian on the run, there are fewer big pump and dumps for me to blog about. The most effective remaining stock promoter is one that I have not yet blogged about: StickTips.com. Their last two pumps, AMMG and PGLO, both lasted for weeks and saw lots of volume and price increases upwards of 100% from when the pumps began. But the problem now is that being the best promoter is like painting a bullseye on your chest: that means the SEC Microcap Task Force will be out to get you sooner rather than later. I will address other reasons why I believe the SEC will actively investigate StockTips.com and their promotions after I describe their prior and current promotions.

Past StockTips.com pump and dumps

I only signed up to StockTips.com late in 2012 year so I did not receive any promotional emails from them prior to December 2012. The first promotion I received from them was for Gold and Gemstone Mining (GGSM) and I only received one email about it at 10:59 AM Eastern on December 5th, 2012. The prior day Premiere Consulting (pennystockparlay.com and related websites, formerly affiliated with bestdamnpennystocks.com) had begun the promotion of GGSM and two days later they were done.

ggsm

StockTips.com disclosure on GGSM:

StockTips.com is operated by Amerada Corp (AC).  Currently AC expects to be compensated $25,000.00 (Twenty-Five Thousand United States Dollars) from Laluna, Inc. for this GGSM advertising and promotion.

 

The second pump that I received from StockTips.com was about PacWest Equities (PWEI), which was promoted by Victory Mark Corp back in autumn 2012 and again by Victory Mark Corp and AwesomePennystocks.com in September 2013. Trading in the stock was quickly suspended due to the SEC crackdown on Awesomepennystocks.com and multiple blatantly false press releases.

While PWEI had been promoted back in the autumn of 2012 by Victory Mark Corp and by some lesser promoters, it received a new wave of promotion in February 2013. The new wave of promotion started February 10th with ImpressivePennyStocks.com / Todaypennystocks.com (paid $100,000 by Perfect Genius Investments, previously paid $100,000 by Green Meadow Enterprises back in 2012). Starting on February 11th, PWEI was promoted by StockExploder.com (paid $25,000 by Flip Ventures LLC). MicroCap Consultants LLC paid a few F-list promoters a few thousand dollars each to promote the stock at that time as well. Capital Financial Media also promoted PWEI and was paid $250,000 by Sancove Holdings Ltd.

I first received pump emails on PWEI at 8:00 PM Eastern on March 24th from StockTips.com. Their last email promoting it came at 11:44 AM on March 27th. Someone who bought PWEI on the first day and sold a week later could have easily lost 50%.

pwei

Compensation disclosed: $25,000
Paying party: Laluna Inc

Disclaimer for the PWEI pump below (click to enlarge):

The next StockTips.com pump and dump was AMMG, starting in July. But back in late May AMMG was promoted by a couple ineffective pumpers. I received pump emails after the close on May 21st from OTCPicks.com / PennyTrader news.net (paid $12,000 by Impexco Group). The last email sent by that promoter came on May 29th at 9:56 AM Eastern and then I received no emails promoting AMMG until StockTips.com promoted it.

ammg_large

The AMMG (Amarium Minerals) pump started after the market close on August 18th. It is quite obvious that volume was low (because StockTips.com’s previous pumps had never done well and had lasted only weeks) but then the stock broke out and hit a high of about $0.59 which is up over 100% from the median price on the first pump day of about $0.25. The last pump emails came on September 27th at 2:56 PM eastern.

ammg

Compensation disclosed: $25,000
Paying party: Laluna Inc

Here is the disclaimer from those emails (click to enlarge):

The PGLO (Pan Global) pump began after the market close on October 20th. Emails then came every trading day until November 6th, when an email was sent at 8:19 AM Eastern. After that email, no further emails were sent until November 14th at 1:53 PM Eastern. The final pump email was sent at 8:23 AM Eastern on November 19th. From a median price of about $0.35 on the first day to the high of the pump of about $0.96 on November 5th, the stock went up 170%.

pglo

Compensation disclosed: $1,100,000
Paying party: Laluna Inc

Below is the disclaimer sent with the emails (click to enlarge):

 

Tiger Oil and Gas (TGRO): The Current Stocktips.com pump & dump

The current stock promotion of StockTips.com is Tiger Oil and Energy, Inc (TGRO). Before describing the current promotion of TGRO I should mention its prior promotion back in January. It was promoted by Blue Lys Capital (WallstreetReport.net among other websites, paid $55,000) after the close on January 16th. Prior to the open the next day it was promoted by Andalusian Holding (FreeOTCPicks.com along with other websites, paid $55,000) and StockMister LLC (paid $15,000 by Cream Consulting). I received no further pump emails on TGRO after 2:20 PM Eastern on January 17th.

tgro_long

The current StockTips.com promotion of TGRO began on December 8th (a Sunday) and emails have come each trading day (or Sunday night). From a price of about $0.42 at 9:45am on the first trading day after the pump began TGRO hit a high of about $0.63 the next day for a potential gain of 50%.

tgro

Compensation disclosed: $2,500,000

Paying party: Laluna Services Inc

Below is the disclaimer from the emails promoting TGRO (click to enlarge):

The emails from StockTIps.com link to a video at http://www.stocktips.com/TGRO/ which then takes the viewer to http://www.stocktips.com/special-thank-tgro/ which links to the Invests.com page promoting TGRO.http://invests.com/opportunity-in-tigeroilandenergy-tgro

The disclaimer on that page says:

Invests.com expects to receive $1,250,000.00 for publication of this advertorial by StockTips.com.

PDF copy of Invests.com promotion page.

 

Why the SEC should have its sights set on StockTips.com

I have noticed several things about StockTips.com that make me believe that they are violating the law. These are all relatively small things that by themselves warrant no more than a slap on the wrist but they could indicate far bigger problems. If I worked for the SEC these would definitely make me think of investigating StockTips.com. First, the website discloses in all its emails that it is owned by Amerada Corp. In every email it lists its address as “4000 Aurora Avenue N. Ste. 119   Seattle, Washington 98103  US”. A quick search of corporations in Washington found only Amerada Petroleum Corp (a subsidiary of Hess Corporation, registered in Delaware). A search of Nevada and Delaware corporate registries found no companies with that name that currently exist (in Delaware an Amerada Corp. has been defunct since 1998). It is quite possible that the Amerada Corp that owns Stocktips.com exists in some other state and all this shows is a lack of proper disclosure or registration (using an address in Washington should mean that they have to file as a foreign corporation, in which case they would show up in the search I conducted).

The same question of the existence of Amerada Corp. can be asked of Laluna Inc — searches of the corporation registries of Washington, Nevada, and Delaware showed no potential matches. Furthermore, the name changed from Laluna Inc to Laluna Services Inc for the TGRO pump (all previous pumps listed “Laluna Inc” as the paying party. This makes it seem less likely that the company exists (although it is possible they made a typo but adding a “Services” to a company name is not a common typo). I should point out that while there are some foreign jurisdictions that do use “Inc.” or “Incorporated” that is much less prevalent than “Ltd.” or “Limited”.

Another suspicious fact about StockTips.com is that for every single stock promotion I have seen by them they have been paid by the same company, Laluna Inc (except for TGRO which was paid by Laluna Services Inc). Most promoters, when they do disclose who paid them, list a revolving door of common third-party promoter payers (such as Flip Ventures LLC), other promoters (such as MicroCap Consultants LLC) and entities that appear to be one-off entities created for one stock promotion.

I do have to admit that what I have described above is no more than what has seemed like ordinary stock promoter behavior over the last few years. But times have changed and the SEC’s Microcap Task Force has been kicking ass and taking names. Any prominent stock promoter that does anything even mildly suspicious is going to quickly find itself being investigated by the SEC. And any stock being promoted by such a promoter is at risk of a trading suspension.

[Edit 2013-12-16 3:20 PM]: In addition to what I described above, many of the large shareholders in TGRO have ties to recent pump and dumps such as NHUR and NVGC. See Ivan’s SeekingAlpha article and the Promotion Stock Secrets article on NGRC for details. In fact, TGRO CEO Kenneth B. Liebscher was criminally prosecuted in the past for stock fraud, although he was acquitted on all counts. The history of the CEO and the ties of large shareholders to other major pump and dump companies (including NHUR and NGRC) make it more likely that trading in TGRO be suspended by the SEC. See also the Promotion Stock Secrets blog post about TGRO.

 

 

Disclaimer: [Edit 2013-12-16: 3:20 PM — I am no longer net short TGRO but will soon be net short again] I am short TGRO and I intend to trade around my position (cover / reshort) in the following trading days and I will not update my disclaimer; I have no relationship with any parties mentioned above. This blog has a terms of use that is incorporated by reference into this post; you can find all my disclaimers and disclosures there as well.

14 thoughts on “Last pump standing: Tiger Oil and Energy $TGRO”

  1. Hey Michael

    I am a fairly new trader and have been trading on and off for about 8 years. I have been following you since before you were a Tim hater lol. I wanted to congratulate you on your trading success. I am starting 2014 using the same short selling strategy that made you successful. I am only starting with $2,000 so well see how far I can get. I will be posting on my blog and using profit.ly for verification. Any advice you can offer would be great. Take care.

    1. Probably the most important advice I can give to people with small accounts is to trade less and only look to trade the best setups otherwise you are almost guaranteed to lose due to commissions etc. And of course cut losses quickly.

  2. Hey Michael,

    I will start with 1000$ in 2014, i want to short sell this stock (TGRO) what is the best setups before short the stock: 1º day with red candle and lower volume?? what you think, help a noob like me. I just know what oumo and dumps are, but i need some help in the setups to place a trade, like 1 day red or 2 days red candles, or slow volume in a pump. what you think , 1º day with red candle and lower volume its the best setup?? thks 😀

    1. It is very tough to start with that little money short selling. Most brokers require $2k for a margin account (which you need to sell short). Anyway, I doubt any broker will have shares to short because TGRO is now on the Reg SHO threshold list so is very hard to borrow. The best times to short pumps like these are into any parabolic upward move or on green to red after a big spike. I think this should dump big Monday although it could last a couple more days. I am currently short a bit of TGRO but looking to get massively short soon, likely tomorrow.

  3. TGRO have 2000$ in cash and a Current Liabilities 117 000$ , the market cap is 50.85M and the total assets are 2000$ a little math, 50,85/0.002 = 25.425 Market/Assets Racio this is Huge Insane guys!!!! The best companys have 10,5 ,3 the racio. Huge Pump and Dump, i think the collapse beggin yesterday with the big drop to 0,8. what you think Michael Goode? you are the guy! =D

  4. Well, TGRO didn’t fail last Monday – what do you think now? Will it survive Jan. 2, 2014, when those waiting & holding their investments for Capital Tax Gain purposes, until 2014, decide to cash out – will the stock ever see 1.16 again – or should my ‘order out’ be in line at the -Opening of Trade Day Jan.2nd, 2014? – Brad

    1. With the caveat that when this does dump it could be very quick, it has had higher highs and higher lows each of the last three days. I think it more likely that TGRO goes up over the next couple days. Disclosure: I’m currently slightly net long and will get flat soon. I wouldn’t want to hold overnight long as I do think this has a relatively higher SEC suspension risk.

  5. TGRO fall 7.09% 😀 its the beggin of the dump right? IB have shares to short? i’m a rookie sorry about the questions, i’m try learning the process of profit from pump and dumps 😀 Thks

    1. IB has had shares very briefly (for a few seconds) a couple times a day for the last couple days. You just have to be constantly watching the shortable column and be fast to get them. TGRO has not been kind to me and I have traded it poorly. I currently am down a bunch on it. I do think this is the end and think maybe they are done pumping and if so it should drop nicely over the next few days (like AMMG). Or they keep pumping and it remains choppy. I was thinking that the pumpers could get it to squeeze but it kept topping out at 1.35 and dropped the last couple days so I don’t think that happens.

      1. Hi, I was watching this ticker after I read about it on your blog.It finally did fall like you predicted. However I was searching for shares to short,but they were just non-exsitent.You say they were availible for seconds in interactive.I could not find there any.Is there any other broker which had shares to borrow?Because T.Sykes said you have shorted 89 000 shares and also bragging like he made money out of it.I just want to know if what he says is legit and you had 89000 shorted.Because there were extremely few shares availible.

      2. I had built up a short position of 89k shares at IB. I shorted 30k a few days before the dump and another 50k weeks earlier. See this verified trade: http://profit.ly/1MoDK8 that actually shows my position as a lot large because multiple trades are all together.

      3. Oh,I see.Ok thanks for reply, I like your blog very much. Its a pity that you dont do alerts and subscription like Mr.Sykes does.I would subscibe to you in a minute.)

  6. They’re spammers, so, by definition they are violating the law. Very bold, sending spam within the US from an US entity. Cool by me. That’s always been $500 a pop when I go to court against the idiots. This should be a cake walk.

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